Experience With My Italian Ride - Fiat Punto 90HP

. This is a discussion on Experience With My Italian Ride - Fiat Punto 90HP within Ownership Reviews. Part of The Automotive Reviews category; Fiat's speedo are always over optimistic. Better to claim such speeds after measuring with some accurate GPS device. Fiats take ...

Fiat's speedo are always over optimistic. Better to claim such speeds after measuring with some accurate GPS device. Fiats take ages to cross realtime 160 mark.

For that matter, as I know almost all of the cars have speedo errors in +-5% range - normally it is kept on positive side (I guess it gives some safety buffer and more importantly better fuel efficiency readings). There may even be some motor act stating about this margin.

As per my experience of driving Ritz, Figo, Polo (all D), here is approx error I have seen on the cars where we did the tests (but please note these were at speeds around 120 km/h):

Ritz: +9% Figo: +1%*Polo: +5%

Also as I said earlier,
Punto: +3% (@ 147 Km/h)

* In Figo's case, there was a tyre upgrade done by the owner (don't remember exact kind).

Where did you get this data?
I don't have all the data of the test runs which I performed on many cars, but found a old log of a Polo 1.2 TDI (fully stock condition with stock tyres) which was created from OBD reader when we were trying to achieve some data at full engine load. During that run, the accelerator was kept floored in 4th gear, here is top speed data in 4th gear of that TDI, now see the difference between OBD and GPS speed:

Now this log shows the GPS speed was actually more compared to OBD speed

@Vivek - Do note that its top speed in the 4th gear, and Polo does much more in the 5th, maximum recorded by me was around 170 (real GPS).

Quote:

Originally Posted by dharmesh

How many ages did it take you to cross 160 on Punto?

I also tested the Punto, thats why I am saying about the too much speed difference. It was showing some 155-160 on the speedo but the car actually was doing around 143-148 on GPS. Unfortunately I the log wasn't recorded because the option wasn't enabled neither I could take any screenshot because I was alone in the car at the time of that run.

You guys have Punto, perform the tests and post the data, I don't have a Punto hence don't know when I get my hands on it next time

When you guys notice any member with low number of posts then don't assume that he is a newbie and doesn't know anything, its just that he is not 'Trolling' around

Where did you get this data?
I don't have all the data of the test runs which I performed on many cars, but found a old log of a Polo 1.2 TDI (fully stock condition with stock tyres) which was created from OBD reader when we were trying to achieve some data at full engine load. During that run, the accelerator was kept floored in 4th gear, here is top speed data in 4th gear of that TDI, now see the difference between OBD and GPS speed:

Now this log shows the GPS speed was actually more compared to OBD speed

@Vivek - Do note that its top speed in the 4th gear, and Polo does much more in the 5th, maximum recorded by me was around 170 (real GPS).

I also tested the Punto, thats why I am saying about the too much speed difference. It was showing some 155-160 on the speedo but the car actually was doing around 143-148 on GPS. Unfortunately I the log wasn't recorded because the option wasn't enabled neither I could take any screenshot because I was alone in the car at the time of that run.

You guys have Punto, perform the tests and post the data, I don't have a Punto hence don't know when I get my hands on it next time

When you guys notice any member with low number of posts then don't assume that he is a newbie and doesn't know anything, its just that he is not 'Trolling' around

Ok buddy you win, i agree that polo is much more faster than punto. Now are you happy?
Polo will be doing more when at 170 in the speedo and punto'll be doing less than 170 when the speedo shows 180.

Where did you get this data?
I don't have all the data of the test runs which I performed on many cars, but found a old log of a Polo 1.2 TDI (fully stock condition with stock tyres) which was created from OBD reader when we were trying to achieve some data at full engine load. During that run, the accelerator was kept floored in 4th gear, here is top speed data in 4th gear of that TDI, now see the difference between OBD and GPS speed:

Now this log shows the GPS speed was actually more compared to OBD speed

I did my own tests and I would say Polo was worse - just better than Ritz!

On the -ve reading stuff, if true, this is not something for one to cheer about - in fact very dangerous on Polo's part. As I know, negative reading on speedo is against rule in some countries (as I said, don't know about India).

Another example of manufacturers being careless for Indians? No point in being a fanboy for the sake of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivekRj.Dieselhead

Ok buddy you win, i agree that polo is much more faster than punto. Now are you happy?
Polo will be doing more when at 170 in the speedo and punto'll be doing less than 170 when the speedo shows 180.

LOL.

For that matter, this makes me think over my (very limited, I agree) experience so far - around 10K Km driven in Punto and only 2 times I have allowed a Polo to overtake me on highway - once, during run in period when I was keeping it below 3 K rpm, I think Polo went past me @140 Km and other time when I was pulling out for a stopover before Ratnagiri on NH17.

I know I am just being naive but thats where all this stuff headed after that wrong reading @180Km/h thingy so thought of adding to it :). Cause I remember a Honda Brio which kept close to me on Kolhapur Pune stretch and eventually overtook after crossing Khambatki tunnel - it all depends on driver + drive combo in the long run.

Most speedometers have tolerances of some ±10%, mainly due to variations in tire diameter.[citation needed] Sources of error due to tire diameter variations are wear, temperature, pressure, vehicle load, and nominal tire size. Vehicle manufacturers usually calibrate speedometers to read high by an amount equal to the average error, to ensure that their speedometers never indicate a lower speed than the actual speed of the vehicle, to ensure they are not liable for drivers violating speed limits.[citation needed]

Quote:

European Union member states must also grant type approval to vehicles meeting similar EU standards. The ones covering speedometers [4] [5][6] are similar to the UNECE regulation in that they specify that:

The indicated speed must never be less than the actual speed, i.e. it should not be possible to inadvertently speed because of an incorrect speedometer reading.

The indicated speed must not be more than 110 percent of the true speed plus 4 km/h at specified test speeds. For example, at 80 km/h, the indicated speed must be no more than 92 km/h.

I did my own tests and I would say Polo was worse - just better than Ritz!

In what?

Quote:

On the -ve reading stuff, if true, this is not something for one to cheer about - in fact very dangerous on Polo's part. As I know, negative reading on speedo is against rule in some countries (as I said, don't know about India).
Another example of manufacturers being careless for Indians? No point in being a fanboy for the sake of it.

Completely agree. speedo showing lower speeds sounds dangerous by any logic and no manufacturer would do that. Appears to be gps error.

Quote:

For that matter, this makes me think over my (very limited, I agree) experience so far - around 10K Km driven in Punto and only 2 times I have allowed a Polo to overtake me on highway - once, during run in period when I was keeping it below 3 K rpm, I think Polo went past me @140 Km and other time when I was pulling out for a stopover before Ratnagiri on NH17.

My experience of 30k kms has never shown me a faster punto in spite of good Delhi roads with straight lines as well as curvy flyovers. Figo, i20 and recently a swift have been in tryst with my polo, but never a punto. I wonder why.